Out Eating

Sunday night after an afternoon showing of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, The Dulcinea and I went to Cafe La Bellitalia over on Sherman Ave. The folks at Eating in Madison A to Z gave the place a good review, as have others. We left vowing only to ever order take out.

Everyone has commented on how cramped the interior is. I personally don't mind cramped quarters too much but our small table was further shrunk with the addition of a menu holding device which took up a fair portion of space. Add to this salt, pepper, parm, and red pepper flakes shakers, and about a quarter of the tabletop was gone. To make the furniture situation worse, the table could have used a shim or two to cure its rickety disposition. These are things I'm willing to live with, however, if the rest of the meal goes well. The packet of bread sticks was a nice touch to start things off as we perused the menu which had your standard Italian fare of pasta, sandwiches, pizza, and the like. It all sounded very appetizing and we ended up ordering a Sicilian pizza and salads. It was shortly after our drinks arrived that things went downhill. I had to remind the waitress of the cream & sugar that she'd neglected to bring for the weak & lifeless coffee. While I enjoyed the cucumber and Roma tomato in the salad, that iceberg lettuce was all we were deemed worthy of was just sad. Considering that other and earlier reviews note that in a golden age their salads were of mixed greens and had delights such as red onion, this is doubly disappointing. The garlic bread would have been perfect had I been able to taste more garlic than one part per million. The pizza, however, was fine. Indeed, it was quite tasty. The thin crust was nice and mix of cheese, tomato, and fresh basil is a favorite of mine.

There was a party of about 12 next to us with one woman feeling the need to hold and carry around the table the infant of a couple there. The problem was that our waitress, who was clearing a table behind us, was in a big hurry (it was nearing close) and couldn't be bothered to say excuse me. And so she tried to zip between our table and the woman holding the child. In cramped quarters this was not a good idea and resulted in some unidentified drink being spilled on The D's pants which, I found out the next morning, had left an immutable stain. I was given strict orders not to tip more than 10%.

Having only been once and tasted only a very small portion of the menu, I can't really pass judgment ex cathedra here, but it will likely be some time before we make a return visit. My love for La Rocca's remains true.

Actually The D and I have hit several restaurants that were new to us recently. One that we both loved was Inka Heritage.

The place had comforting orange-yellow walls which made us forget that it was winter outside. Well, until other folks walked in regaling us with a blast of chilly air, anyway. The waitress was friendly and attentive and the cinnamon tea I ordered straight away was very tasty.

To be blatantly honest, I probably know more about medieval Polish cuisine than I do Peruvian. And I'm sure one result of this was that I ordered the Peruvian equivalent of a hamburger and fries. For some photos and another review, check out what Nichole wrote over at Eating in Madison A to Z. The menu described some of the dishes as being aphrodisiacs and I tried to get The D to order one of those but, alas, I failed.

For an appetizer, we had the hoolie with mashed potatoes, avocado, and shrimp. It is formed by taking a cylinder and placing mashed potatoes on the bottom followed by a layer of avocado, shrimp, and mayo. Finally, another layer of mashed on top with a trio of shrimp as garnish. We thoroughly enjoyed it. For the main course, I had the Lomito Inka Heritage which was a piece of beef tenderloin on a bed of beans & rice with a fried egg atop it all. On the side were fried plantains and red onion. It was absolutely delicious. Fried plantains are a favorite of ours and it brought back memories of this past summer of grilling bananas. It was very simple in that there wasn't a whole host of seasonings involved. The meat was tender while the egg was slightly underdone. While I personally have no problems with a bit of raw albumen, others might. Egg yolk makes everything good and dipping a bit of meat and the rice/bean combination in its cholesterol goodness made for a most satisfying dish. The D had what I'm guessing is the beef saltado – pieces of tenderloin on French fries with rice. I nipped a couple fries that had been soaking in the meat's juices and they were heaven. I found this a fair trade in exchange for some plantain.

There is much territory yet to explore at Inka Heritage and we will certainly return.

Finally we have Takumi, a Japanese restaurant that opened near East Towne Mall this past spring. It's been a couple weeks since we were there so my memory is a bit hazy. The interior was dark and sleek while our waiter was nice and attentive. I only wish that the TV was off. There's just too much music and television being piped into public spaces. In some cases this is no big deal, but, when I'm eating, I want to focus on food and company, not waste time trying to tune out distractions.

The D ordered a mix of tempura delights while I had a wide noodle dish. We also had rolls. I cannot recall which variety she had but I got the ones with shrimp and avocado. (I see a pattern developing here.) Some of the tempura had a bit too much batter on them while others were just right. As above, my knowledge of Japanese cuisine is far outweighed by my ignorance of it. Was our meal "authentic"? Not particularly, I'd imagine. I'm sure it's one strand of Japanese-American cuisine. But, for what it's worth, I thought the food was tasty.